A frequent gripe about country music circa 2013 is that when its not busy being tone-deaf (paging Brad Paisleys Accidental Racist), the genre, broadly speaking, is fast becoming dull.

Country stars can seem pretty interchangeable  quick: can you tell Eric Church from Luke Bryan?  and so can their songs, often a celebration of some mix of automobiles, patriotism, sex appeal and/or alcohol. But as damaging as the past decade has been to Music Citys legacy, the more troubling development has been the sacrifice of the album.

Once carefully crafted statements, meant to have a cumulative impact, LPs are now treated as colorless loss leaders for large-scale arena tours. Gone are the days of Willie Nelsons Phases and Stages or Kenny Rogers Gideon  todays country artists, at almost every level, want a big splash on the radio and at sold-out stadiums across the country.

Kenny Chesney certainly has the latter (hes routinely a top-selling touring act), but hes also guilty of the former, which is doubly frustrating, because he has occasionally demonstrated flashes of potential as a serious-minded troubadour, interpreting songs steeped in pain and regret. But thats not where the money lies: Chesney has made serious coin off the island lifestyle. Although he has pried a few good records out of the shtick, most notably 2005s Be As You Are (Songs From an Old Blue Chair), he returns to that well on Life on a Rock, his 16th studio album.

Co-produced with Buddy Cannon, these 10 songs are perfumed with tropical elements, and Chesney even takes a stab at reggae with Spread the Love, which features a cameo from the Wailers. It sticks out only because it dares to sound somewhat different; the remaining nine tracks slide together in a haze, as if youd spent the day on a white sand beach, chugging fruity drinks and slowly going numb. (Speaking of Nelson, he turns up here on Coconut Tree, the sonic equivalent of a fleeting breeze.)

Whether the country music genre can continue to keep abiding records as bland as Life on a Rock remains to be seen, but the better question is: Why do listeners keep buying the same old song?

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